So Black People Aren’t Sex-Crazed, Baby-Making Machines?
Much has already been discussed about single African Americans’ dating desires based on findings from a poll released earlier this month that showed how black people feel about various aspects of their lives. So enough about the romantic relationship numbers. Let’s look at another shocker: 69% percent of respondents have no children under 18, and this number accounts both for children living with them [...]
How Every Christian Can Relate to Homosexuals in the Church
Last Thursday, Jeff Chu, author of the new book, “Does Jesus Really Love Me? A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America,” appeared on the Diane Rehm Show. It was the kind of interview that made me talk back to the radio and that spurned discussions with other people in the car. I [...]
The Most Important Ingredient for a Good Sex Scene
As you may know, I spent much of this week at AWP’s 2013 conference in Boston. On the last day, I attended a panel on how to write a good sex scene. The panelists read from their own works and from those of other writers who they think have written sexual intercourse well. Some of [...]
Bringing Black Churches into Reproductive Justice
(For the first Faith & Feminism Friday of 2013, I’m a guest contributor on the “Feminism and Religion” blog. The post starts below and continues there.) I don’t expect to hear anything in church about the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade during the month of January, the month marking 40 years since the U.S. [...]
Why Race Should Matter to Pro-Choice Activists
As I progress with subsequent drafts of my book, I’ve been meeting with another writer for accountability and feedback. In a recent session, we talked—in hushed tones in a coffee shop—about my book being full of themes and situations black women don’t talk about within their own families. They may discuss these topics with [...]
An Open Letter to Shonda Rhimes: Bring April’s Sexy Back
Dear Ms. Rhimes: Most of the time, I love you and you make me regret not sticking it out in L.A. a little longer to become a screen- and television writer. But I need you to do something different with April Kepner. I met Dr. April Kepner on Grey’s Anatomy for the first [...]
If the Mayans are Right
If the Mayans are right*, and the world does end on Dec. 21, 2012—does anyone else wonder if the end will roll over the earth time zone by time zone?—I’ll be happy that: I don’t have to pay off my student loan after all! I won’t have to worry about health insurance. This pesky [...]
Handling Shade with Subtext: a lesson in writing and interracial dating
As a writer, I love subtext, and Shonda Rhimes does it brilliantly. The genius behind “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” took it to a new level last night when character Olivia Pope, who is black, said this in reference to her affair with the president, who is white: “I’m feeling a little ‘Thomas Jefferson-Sally Hemmings’ about this.” [...]
Do Tell! (but no pressure)
I must not be up on my feminism game. Apparently, I’ve missed the wave of abortion “coming out” stories sweeping the internet, upholding the cause for reproductive rights and freeing women from shame and stigma. An anonymous author at Jezebel thinks reproductive rights advocates have lost sight of the forest for the trees; she asserts [...]
Bringing feminism into sexual morality
I stumbled upon the above tweets a few days ago in the timeline of Jonathan Merritt, author of “A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars.” The tweets linked to a video by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) Generation Forum, an initiative established to “explore the potential for evangelical Christians to [...]
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